Inspectors from the International Association of Athletics Federations were
given a signed legal document from the Treasury on Monday guaranteeing the
athletics track will be maintained at the Olympic Stadium regardless of
which football club move in after the 2012 Games.

Officials from athletics’ world governing body are in London for a two-day visit ahead of their decision next month on who will host the World Championships in 2017.

London is competing against Doha and it had been feared that the court battle between West Ham and Tottenham over the future of the Olympic Stadium would jeopardise London’s chances.

But sports minister Hugh Robertson yesterday offered the IAAF a guarantee that no one will be allowed to remove the athletics track.

Robertson said: ”We have now a letter of guarantee from the Treasury solicitor that says the track will remain in the stadium in legacy mode and all the indications are that that has now put that argument to bed.”

Tottenham have mounted a legal challenge against the decision to award occupancy of the stadium to West Ham after the Olympics. They have won a full judicial review on Oct 18 but are in negotiations with London Mayor Boris Johnson over a £17 million deal which would see them drop their opposition.

Robertson warned yesterday that if no deal is agreed, the Government could look at a range of options – including keeping the stadium in Government control and simply awarding a lease – if forced to restart the tender process.

“It is becoming a slightly ridiculous dispute now,” Robertson said.

The legal challenge has provided an unseemly backdrop to London’s bid for 2017, especially following the failure of previous attempts to host the championships.

When asked if a Treasury guarantee would have more impact than a Prime Minister’s promise, a reference to the embarrassing backdown to host the 2005 World Championships when Picketts Lock collapsed in spite of then leader Tony Blair’s personal guarantee, Robertson said: “One has legal force, the other was personal... but [this time] they don’t have to take us on trust, they came here [to the Olympic Stadium] and they put their feet on it”.

Hours before the stadium visit, the IAAF delegation, led by vice-president Bob Hersh, was met by Robertson who had deferred being at his party’s conference, Mayor Johnson and the chair of the Olympic Park Legacy Company Margaret Ford.

Robertson said he stressed that the legal issues would not affect the status of having the track remain at the Olympic Stadium.

“We have assured the IAAF that there will be an athletics track at the stadium, while the legal issue is about the process, and even if Tottenham Hotspur win, and I am confident they won’t, we will still have an athletics track,” said Robertson.

Locog chairman Sebastian Coe, who is also an IAAF executive board member, said: “They went away with the guarantees they needed, we didn’t leave them in any doubt at all about the commitment to the stadium.

“We made a very strong case this morning and we will continue to make that case, and it’s a compelling case.”

Tottenham and Orient have claimed that the £40 million loan provided by Newham Borough Council to the club is illegal under European Union law.